Oscar / Best Actor
The Oscar for best leading actor honors the achievements of male leading actors in a film . The award is traditionally awarded by last year's Oscar winner for best actress .
| superlative | Best Actor | Best supporting actor | total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most award-winning actor | Daniel Day-Lewis | 3 | Walter Brennan | 3 |
Walter Brennan Jack Nicholson Daniel Day-Lewis |
3 |
| Actor with the most nominations |
Spencer Tracy Laurence Olivier |
9 |
Jack Nicholson Claude Rains Arthur Kennedy Walter Brennan |
4th | Jack Nicholson | 12th |
| Actors with the most nominations (without ever winning) |
Peter O'Toole | 8th |
Claude Rains Arthur Kennedy |
4th | Peter O'Toole | 8th |
| Film with the most nominations |
Mutiny on the Bounty (nominated: Clark Gable , Franchot Tone and Charles Laughton ) |
3 |
The fist in the neck The godfather The godfather II |
3 |
The fist in the neck The godfather The godfather II |
4th |
| Oldest winner | Henry Fonda | 76 | Christopher Plummer | 82 | Christopher Plummer | 82 |
| Oldest nominee | Anthony Hopkins | 83 | Christopher Plummer | 88 | Christopher Plummer | 88 |
| Youngest winner | Adrien Brody | 29 | Timothy Hutton | 20th | Timothy Hutton | 20th |
| Youngest nominee | Jackie Cooper | 9 | Justin Henry | 8th | Justin Henry | 8th |
Films qualify for an Oscar in the year following their release. Titanic, released in 1997, was nominated for the 1998 Academy Awards . The table below shows the winners according to the year they were awarded.
Special features and records
- Emil Jannings was the first actor to win an Oscar in 1929 for his performance in two films - The Way of All Flesh (1927) and His Last Command (1928). In the same year Richard Barthelmess was nominated for best leading actor for his performance in two films - Die Welt in Flammen (1927) and The Night Without Hope (1928).
- Only Spencer Tracy and Tom Hanks managed to win for two consecutive years. Tracy won for Manuel in 1938 and for Devil Guys in 1939 ; Hanks won for Philadelphia in 1994 and Forrest Gump in 1995 .
- The greatest time span between two victories is 22 years: Jack Nicholson won in 1976 for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and 1998 for Better it couldn't be .
- Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro each won an Oscar for portraying the same character . Brando played Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather , and De Niro played him (as a young man) in The Godfather - Part II . Decades later, Heath Ledger (posthumously) and Joaquin Phoenix each won an Oscar for various adaptations of the Joker in the films The Dark Knight and Joker .
- Several actors have been nominated for best leading actor in the following films:
- Clark Gable , Charles Laughton , and Franchot Tone in Mutiny on the Bounty (1936)
- Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald in The Road to Happiness (1945)
- Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster in Forever Forever (1954)
- James Dean and Rock Hudson in Giants (1957)
- Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier in Escape In Chains (1959)
- Maximilian Schell and Spencer Tracy in the Nuremberg judgment (1962)
- Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole in Becket (1965)
- Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier in Murder with Small Mistakes (1973)
- Peter Finch and William Holden in Network (1977)
- Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney in Unequal Couple (1984)
- F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce in Amadeus (1985)
- Only in 1932 was the prize awarded twice: to Fredric March and Wallace Beery . March had one more vote than Beery, but because of the close spacing, the Academy decided to give both of them the award. According to today's rules, the prize would only be awarded twice if there was an exact tie.
- Posthumous winners: Peter Finch and Heath Ledger
- Posthumous Nominees: James Dean , Spencer Tracy . Massimo Troisi and Chadwick Boseman
- Only James Dean was nominated twice posthumously.
- Four actors have been nominated twice for the same character: Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in The Road to Happiness and The Bells of St. Mary ; Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in Becket and The Lion in Winter ; and Paul Newman as "Fast Eddie" Felson in Sharks of the Big City and The Color of Money , each as best actor. Sylvester Stallone was nominated for best leading actor (for Rocky ) and best supporting actor (for Creed - Rocky's Legacy ) for his portrayal of Rocky Balboa .
- Only Michael Douglas and Laurence Olivier won in the categories of Best Actor and Best Producer (Douglas: Best Actor for Wall Street and Best Producer for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ; Olivier: Best Actor for Hamlet and Best Producer for Hamlet ).
- Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for The Road to Happiness (the rules were later changed).
- The film that won an Oscar for Best Actor was directed by two actors: Laurence Olivier on Hamlet and Roberto Benigni on Life is Beautiful .
- Two winners waived the prize: George C. Scott for Patton - Rebel in Uniform (1971) and Marlon Brando for The Godfather (1973).
- Film characters whose portrayals of various actors led to Oscar nominations: Fredric March and James Mason as Norman Maine in A Star Rises and A New Star in the Sky ( Bradley Cooper received another for his performance in the renewed remake A Star Is Born in 2019 Nomination, but his role name is slightly changed to Jackson Maine); Robert Donat and Peter O'Toole as teachers Mr. Chipping in Goodbye, Mr. Chips and the 1969 version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips ; Laurence Olivier (in Henry V ) and Kenneth Branagh (in Henry V ) as Henry V of England. Charles Laughton and Richard Burton as Henry VIII of England in The Private Life of Henry VIII and Queen for a Thousand Days ; Leslie Howard and Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins in The Flower Girl's Novel and My Fair Lady ; José Ferrer and Gérard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac in The Last Musketeer from 1950 and Cyrano de Bergerac from 1990; Robert Montgomery and Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton on Vacation From Heaven and Heaven Shall Wait ; Anthony Hopkins and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in Nixon and Frost / Nixon ; and John Wayne and Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in The Marshal and True Grit .
- For 15 minutes and 38 seconds, David Niven could be seen on the screen in Separate from table and bed . His portrayal is considered to be the shortest that has ever been awarded an Oscar for Best Actor. In second place is Anthony Hopkins ' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (approx. 16 minutes).
- Six actors won the Oscar for Best Leading Role and Best Supporting Role: Jack Lemmon , Robert De Niro , Jack Nicholson , Gene Hackman , Kevin Spacey and Denzel Washington .
- Al Pacino was nominated for the same character of Michael Corleone once for the best supporting actor in The Godfather and once for the best leading actor in The Godfather II .
- Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator , José Ferrer in Moulin Rouge , Peter Sellers in Dr. Strange , Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou and Nicolas Cage in Adaptation - The Orchid Thief were nominated for double and triple roles in the same film.
1929-1930
| year | Award winners | for the movie | Nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Emil Jannings |
His last command The way of all flesh |
Richard Barthelmess for The Night Without Hope Richard Barthelmess for The World in Flames |
|
1930 (1) |
Warner Baxter | In Old Arizona |
Lewis Stone for The Patriot Chester Morris for Alibi Paul Muni for The Valiant George Bancroft for you called him Thunderbolt |
|
1930 (2) |
George Arliss | Disraeli |
George Arliss for The Green Goddess Wallace Beery for Hell Behind Bars Maurice Chevalier for The Big Pond Maurice Chevalier for Love Parade Ronald Colman for Bulldog Drummond Ronald Colman for Escape from Devil's Island Lawrence Tibbett for Bandit Song |
1931-1940
In 1933 there was no Academy Awards.
1941-1950
1951-1960
1961-1970
1971-1980
1981-1990
1991-2000
2001-2010
2011-2020
2021-2030
| year | Award winners | for the movie | Nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 |
Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Anthony Hopkins for The Father Gary Oldman for Mank Steven Yeun for Minari - Where We Put Down Roots |